CHAPTER VI 



THE INFLUENCE OF LAND POLICIES ON 

 AGRARIANISM 



Agrarian protests almost completely disappeared 

 after the Revolutionary War. No concerted action 

 on the part of any group of farmers occurred between 

 the establishment of our national government in 

 1789 and the beginning of the Civil War in 1861. 

 Some of our governmental policies that were promul- 

 gated during this period had important influence on 

 agrarian tendencies during the latter half of the 

 nineteenth century. The extension of the public 

 domain, and federal laws relating to it, had the effect 

 of retarding organized effort on the part of the farm 

 population. On the other hand, the tariff had just 

 the opposite effect. The farmers of the country, 

 especially those living in the Southern States, be- 

 came increasingly hostile to the changing tariff 

 schedules of the national government. While the 

 land and tariff policies of the country tended to 

 counteract each other through the first half of the 

 nineteenth century, the time came when both of 

 these profoundly influenced the attitude of the 

 American farmer. 



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